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F-46I0I 

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FROM    THE   LIBRARY   OF 
REV.    LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON,   D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED    BY    HIM    TO 
THE    LIBRARY   OF 


FRINCETON    THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY 


^/M 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://archive.org/details/thorigeOOcole 


V-iT     JUDGMENT 


^^ 


/ 
DIES    ir^: 


THIRTEEN    ORIGINAL    VERSIONS 


BY- 
ABRAHAM    COLES,    M.  D. 


-»©*'— 


IdD 


NEW    YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY. 

1859. 


Entered  according  to   Act  of  Congress  in  the  year   1859,  by 

Abraham  Coles, 

in  the   Clerk's  office  of  the   District  Court  of  the   District  of 

New  Jersey. 


RIVERSIDE,    CAMBRIDGE  : 

STEREOTYPED    AND    PRINTED     BY 

H.    o.    HOUGHTON    AND    COMPANY. 


DIES    ir^:. 


INTRODUCTION. 


T  would  be  difficult  to  find,  in  the 
whole  range  of  literature,  a  production 
to  which  a  profounder  intereft  attaches 
than  to  that  magnificent  canticle  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  DIES  IRJE.  Fattening  on  that 
v/hich  is  indeftructible  in  man,  and  giving  fitter  ex- 
preffion  than  can  elsewhere  be  found,  to  experiences 
and  emotions  which  can  never  cease  to  agitate  him, 
it  has  loft  after  the  lapse  of  fix  centuries  none  of  its 
original  fremness  and  transcendent  power  to  affect 
the  heart.  It  has  commanded  alike  the  admiration 
of  men  of  piety  and  men  of  tafte.  By  common  con- 
sent, it  is  as  Daniel  remarks  :  sacrce  poeseos  sununum 
decus  et  Ecclesice  Latince  KequjXurv  est  pretiofijjimum. 
Among    gems    it  is  the  diamond.      It  is  solitary  in 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

its  excellence.  Of  Latin  Hymns,  it  is  the  heft 
known  and  the  acknowledged  mafterpiece.  There 
are  others  which  pofless  much  sweetness  and  beauty, 
but  this  ftands  unrivalled.  It  has  superior  beauties, 
with  none  of  their  defects.  For  the  moft  part  they 
are  more  or  less  Romifh,  but  this  is  Catholic,  and 
not  Romifh  at  all.  It  is  universal  as  humanity.  It 
is  the  cry  of  the  human.  It  bears  indubitable  marks 
of  being  a  personal  experience. 

The  author  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  monk  :  an 
incredible  suppofition  truly  did  we  not  know  that  a 
monk  is  also  a  man.  One  thing  is  certain,  that  the 
monk  does  not  appear,  and  that  it  is  the  man  only 
that  speaks.  He  no  longer  dreams  and  drivels.  He 
is  effectually  awake.  The  veil  is  lifted.  He  sees 
Chrift  coming  to  Judgment.  All  the  tumult  and  the 
terror  of  the  Laft  Day  are  present  to  him.  The  final 
pause  and  syncope  of  Nature  ;  the  fhuddering  of  a 
horror-ftruck  Universe  ;  the  down-rufhing  and  wreck 
of  all  things — all  are  present.  But  these  material 
circumftances  of  horror  and  amazement,  he  feels  are 
as  nothing  compared  with  "  the  infinite  terror  of 
being   found   guilty  before  the  Juft  Judge. "       This 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

fingle  confideration  swallows  up  every  other.  The 
interests  of  an  eternity  are  crowded  into  a  moment. 

One  great  secret  of  the  power  and  enduring  popu- 
larity of  this  Hymn  is,  undoubtedly,  its  genuineness. 
A  vital  fincerity  breathes  throughout.  It  is  a  cry  de 
profundh  ;  and  the  cry  becomes  sometimes — so  in- 
tense are  the  terror  and  solicitude — almoft  a  fhriek. 
It  is  in  the  higher!  degree  pathetic.  The  Muse 
is  "  Alater  Lachrymarum,  Our  Lady  of  Tears." 
Every  line  weeps.  Underneath  every  word  and  syl- 
lable, a  living  heart  throbs  and  pulsates.  The  very 
rhythm,  or  that  alternate  elevation  and  depreffion  of 
the  voice,  which  prosodifts  call  the  arfis  and  the 
thefts^  one  might  almoft  fancy  were  synchronous 
with  the  contraction  and  the  dilatation  of  the  heart. 
It  is  more  than  dramatic.  The  horror  and  the  dread 
are  real :  are  actual  not  acted.  A  human  heart  is 
laid  bare,  quivering  with  life,  and  we  see  and  hear  its 
tumultuous  throbbings.  We  sympathize — nay,  be- 
fore we  are  aware,  we  have  changed  places.  We, 
too,  tremble  and  quail  and  cry  aloud. 

All  true  Lyric  Poetry  is  subjective.  The  Dies 
Ir^e  is,  as  we  have  seen,  remarkable  for  its  intense 


V  111  INTRODUCTION. 

subjectivity  ;  and  whoever  duly  appreciates  this  char- 
acteristic, will  have  little  difficulty  in  underftanding 
its  superior  effectiveness  over  everything  else  that 
has  been  written  on  the  same  theme.  The  life  of 
the  writer  has  paffed  into  it  and  informs  it,  so  that  it 
is  itself  alive.  It  has  vital  forces  and  emanations. 
Its  life  mingles  with  our  life.  It  enters  into  our 
veins  and  circulates  in  our  blood.  A  virtue  goes  out 
from  it.  It  is  electrically  charged,  and  contact  is 
inftantly  followed  by  a  fhock  and  fhuddering. 

Springing  from  its  subjectivity,  if  not  identical  with 
it,  we  would  further  notice,  the  intenfifying  effect  of 
what  may  be  called  its  personalism,  in  other  words 
its  ego-ism.  It  is  I  and  not  We.  Subftitute  the 
plural  pronoun  for  the  lingular,  and  it  would  lose 
half  its  pungency.  We  have  had  occafton  to  observe 
the  weakening  effect  of  this  in  tran  flat  ion.  The 
truth  is,  the  feeling  is  of  a  kind  too  concentrated  and 
too  exacting  to  allow  itself  to  be  diffipated  in  the 
vagueness  of  any  grouping  generality.  The  heart 
knoweth  its  own  bitterness.  There  is  a  grief  that 
cannot  be  (haied,  neither  can  it  be  joined  on  to 
another's.      It  is  not  social  nor  common.      It  is  mine 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

and  not  yours.  It  is  exclufive,  not  because  it  is  sel- 
fish, but  because  it  has  depths  beyond  the  soundings 
of  ordinary  sympathy. 

This  is  especially  true  of  some  of  the  intenser 
forms  of  religious  experience,  proceeding  as  they  do 
from  that  which  is  moft  intimate  and  innermoft,  the 
penetralia  of  a  man's  consciousness,  his  moft  secret 
and  peculiar  self.  There  is  an  inner  and  privileged 
sanctuary  of  the  heart,  which  is  kept  as  a  chamber 
locked  up.  It  is  hidden  and  sacred.  It  may  be, 
that  the  individual,  dwelling  habitually  in  the  outer 
courts  of  his  being,  rarely  if  ever  enters  into  it  him- 
self. For  man  is  twofold.  A  veil  divides  between 
the  outer  and  the  inner  man.  Gross  and  sensual, 
the  majority  of  mankind  are  averse  to  lifting  the  con- 
cealing medium,  for  fear  of  unwelcome  revelations 
and  discoveries  respecting  themselves.  Goethe  is  an 
example  of  this  portentous  preference  for  half  knowl- 
edge :  "  Alan,"  he  says,  "  is  a  darkened  being  ;  he 
knows  not  whence  he  came,  nor  whither  he  goes  ; 
he  knows  little  of  the  world  and  less  of  himself.  I 
know  not  myself,  and  may  God  protect:  me  from  it." 

In  converfion  to  God  this  veil  is  rent  from  top  to 
b 


INTRODUCTION. 


bottom.     There   is   a    self-revelation.      Behind    the 

curtain,  there  in  the  Moft  Holy  Place,  where  ought 
to  be  the  Shekinah,  the  mining,  senfible  Manifefta- 

tion  of  the  Divine  Presence,  he  beholds  the  Abomi- 
nation of  Iniquity  set  up.  He  awakes  to  the  ftart- 
ling  fait  that  he  is  c(  without  God  and  without  hope 
in  the  world."  A  voice  of  urgency  is  sounding  in 
his  ears  :  "  Plee  from  the  Wrath  to  Come."  He 
anticipates  the  terrors  of  the  Judgment.  He  feels 
that  there  is  not  a  moment  to  lose.  Instinct 
prompts,  and  the  Word  of  God  enjoins,  that  he  seek 
to  save  himself  firft.  He  knows  not  whether  others 
are  in  as  bad  a  case  as  he.  But  of  his  own  guilt  and 
danger  he  has  no  doubt.  An  offended  Maker  con- 
fronts him,  him  in  particular.  So  he  prays  and  ago- 
nizes. His  may  not  be  "  the  thews  which  throw  the 
world" — he  is  conscious  of  weakness  rather  than 
ftrength — yet  fingly  and  alone,  he  wreftles  with  God 
like  Jacob,  and  prevails  like  Israel. 

The  Hymn  is  not  only  lyrical  in  its  efTence,  but 
also  in  its  form.  It  is  inftindt  with  mufic.  It  lings 
itself.  The  grandeur  of  its  rhythm,  and  the  aflb- 
nance   and   chime   of  its  fit  and  powerful  words,  are. 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

even  in  the  ears  of  those  unacquainted  with  the  Latin 
language,  suggeftive  of  the  richeft  and  mightieft  har- 
monies. The  verse  is  ternary ;  and  the  ternary 
number,  having  been  efteemed  anciently  a  symbol 
of  perfection  and  held  in  great  veneration,  may  pos- 
sibly have  had  something  to  do  with  the  choice  of 
the  ftrophe.  Be  this  as  it  may,  its  metrical  ftruc- 
ture,  as  all  agree,  conftitutes  by  no  means  the  lean:  of 
its  extraordinary  merits.  Trench,  in  his  Selections 
from  Latin  Poetry,  speaks  of  the  metre  as  being 
grandly  devised,  and  fitted  to  bring  out  some  of  the 
nobleft  powers  of  the  Latin  language  ;  and  as  being, 
moreover,  unique,  forming  the  only  example  of  the 
kind  that  he  remembers.  He  notices  the  solemn 
effect  of  the  triple  rhyme,  comparable  to  blow  fol- 
lowing blow  of  the  hammer  on  the  anvil.  Knapp,  in 
his  Liederschatz,  likens  the  original  to  a  blaft  from 
the  trump  of  resurrection,  and  declares  its  power 
inimitable  in  any  tranflation. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    HYMN. 


HE  authorfhip  of  the  Dies  Irae  is  as- 
cribed, apparently  upon  good  grounds, 
to  Thomas  of  Celano,  so  called  from  a 
small  town  of  that  name  in  Italy.  He 
was  a  friend  and  pupil  and  subsequently  the  biog- 
rapher of  St.  Francis  of  Aflifi,  the  founder  of  the 
order  of  Minorites,  (called  also  Friars-Minor,  Grey 
Friars  or  Franciscans,  being  one  of  the  four  orders 
of  mendicant  friars,)  inftituted  in  1208.  Wadding, 
an  Irifhman  and  a  Minorite,  who  lived  in  the  firft 
half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  who  wrote  a 
hiftory  of  his  order,  exprefTly  refers  it  to  Celano. 
He  mentions  two  other  hymns  or  Sequences  com- 
posed by  him,  one  beginning  :  Fregit  viftor  virtua- 
lis ;   the  other  :    Sanftitatis  nova  figna.     The  circum- 


XIV  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

ftance  of  the  Dominican  Sixtus  Senenfis  affecting 
to  sneer  at  it,  calling  it  rhytbmus  inconditus,  is  re- 
garded as  confirmatory  of  the  opinion,  that  it  was  at 
leaft  the  work  of  a  Franciscan  >  the  bitter  rivalries 
subfifting  between  the  two  orders  affording,  it  is 
thought,  the  mod:  plaufible  explanation  of  a  criticism 
so  manifeftly  splenetic  and  unjuft.  Another  cor- 
roborative circumftance  is  its  early  admiflion  into 
the  Franciscan  Miffals,  by  which  means  a  knowl- 
edge of  it  was  spread  throughout  Europe.  The 
correctness  of  this  inference  is  further  suftained  by 
the  fact,  that,  inscribed  on  a  marble  flab  in  the 
Franciscan  Church  of  St.  Francis  at  Mantua,  was 
found  one  of  the  earlieft  copies  of  the  hymn,  rep- 
resenting, it  is  believed,  the  text  as  it  came  from 
the  hands  of  the  author.  Dr.  iMohnike,  a  learned 
and  able  editor  of  the  Dies  Irne,  furnifhes  an  old 
copy  of  the  Mantuan  text,  which  differs  from  the 
Received  text  chiefly  in  this,  that  the  firff  four 
ftanzas  are  additional.  They  are  here  given  with 
a  tranflation  annexed  ;  also  the  heading  which  is  as 
follows  : 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XV 

Meditatio  Vetufta  et  Venufta 

de   Noviflimo  Judicio 
quae  Mantuae  in  Eede  D.   Francisci  in 

marmore  legitur. 

Cogita,  anima  fidelis, 
Ad  quid  respondere  velis, 
Chrifto  venturo  de  coelis. 

Weigh  with  solemn  thought  and  tender, 
What  response,  thou,  Soul,  wilt  render, 
Then  when   Chrift  mail  come  in  splendor. 

Cum  deposcet  rationem 
Ob  boni  omifTionem, 
Ob  mali  commiiTionem. 

And  thy  life  mail  be  inbpecled, 
All  its  hidden  guilt  detected, 
Evil  done  and  good   neglected. 

Dies  ilia,  dies  ine, 
Quam  conemur  praevenire 
Obviamque   Deo  ire  ; 

For  that  day  of  vengeance  neareth  : 
Ready  be  each  one  that   heareth 
God  to  meet  when   He  appeareth, 


XVI  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

4.     Seria  contritione, 

Gratiae  apprehenflone, 
Vitas  emendatione. 

By  repenting,   by   believing. 

By  God's  offered  grace  receiving, 

By  all  evil  courfes  leaving. 

The  succeeding  fixteen  verfes  are  the  same,  with 
flight  variations,  as  those  of  the  Church  or  Received 
text ;  but  in  place  of  the  next  verse,  which  forms 
the  17th  of  this,  beginning:  Oro  supplex  et  acdinis, 
the  Mantuan  copy  has  the  following  for  its  21ft  and 
concluding  ftanza  : 

21.      Conlbrs  ut  beatitatis 
Vivam  cum  juftiflcatis 
In  aevum  aeternitatis.  Amen. 

That   in   fellowfhip  fraternal 

With  inhabitants  supernal 

I    may   live  the  life  eternal.   Amen. 

That  the  abbreviation  of  the  poem,  by  the  omis- 
fion  of  the  four  opening  ftanzas,  adds  greatly  to  its 
general,  and  flill  more  to  its  lyric  effectiveness,  there 
can  be  no  doubt.      The  rejected  verfes,  partaking  oi 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XV11 

a  quiet  and  meditative  character,  impair  the  force  of 
the  lyric  element.  In  its  present  form,  all  is  vehe- 
ment ftir  and  movement,  from  the  grand  and  ftart- 
ling  abruptness  of  its  opening,  to  the  sweet  and 
powerful  pathos  of  its  solemn  and  impreflive  close. 

Befides  Celano,  various  other  names  have  had 
their  supporters  for  the  honor  of  the  authorfhip  of 
this  poem.  It  has  been  attributed  to  Gregory  the 
Great,  who  lived  at  a  period  some  fix  hundred 
years  earlier.  But  this  would  involve  the  neceffity 
of  suppofing  that  a  poem  of  such  extraordinary  merit 
could  remain  unknown  and  unnoticed  during  so 
many  centuries,  which  is  not  at  all  likely.  Befides, 
it  is  certain,  that,  while  rhyme  was  not  altogether 
unknown  or  unused  at  that  time,  it  had  by  no  means 
reached  that  ftate  of  perfection  which  this  poem 
exhibits.* 

Leonard  Meifter,  a  Swiss  writer,  claimed  that 
Felix  Hammerlin,  (Latinized  into  Malleolus,)  a 
Church  dignitary  of  Zurich,  born  in  1389,  and  who 
died  about  1457,  was  tne  author  of  Dies  Irae,  because 
among  Hammerlin's  poems  he  found  a  manuscript 
of  this  hymn  ;  but  the  evidence  is  quite  conclufive, 
*  See   Appendix — Origin  of  Latin   Rhyme. 


XV111  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

that  the  hymn  was  in  exiftence  before  his  time.  In 
the  Hammerlin  text,  the  16th  verse  is  followed  by 
eight  more,  probably  supplied  by  Hammerlin  him- 
self.     They  are  here  subjoined. 

17.  Oro  supplex  a  minis, 
Cor  contritum  quafi  cinis  : 
Gere  curam  mei  finis  ! 

From  the  ruins  of  creation, 
Make   I   contrite  supplication  : 
Interpose  for  my  salvation  ! 

18.  Lachrymosa  die  ilia, 
Cum  resurget  ex  favilla, 
Tanquam  ignis  ex  scintilla, 

On  that  day  of  woe  and  weeping, 
When,  like  fire  from  spark  upleaping, 
Starts,  from  afhes  where  he's   fleeping, 

19.  Judicandus  homo  reus, 
Huic  ergo  parce,  Deus ! 
Efto  semper  adjutor  meus  ! 

Man  account  to  Thee  to  render  : 
Spare  the  miserable   offender  ! 
Be  my   Helper  and   Defender! 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

20.  Quando  coeli  sunt  movendi, 
Dies  adsunt  tunc  tremendi, 
Nullum  tempus  pcenitendi. 

When  the  heavens  away  are  flying, 
Days  of  trembling  then  and  crying, 
For  repentance  time  denying; 

21.  Sed  salvatis  lseta  dies, 
Et  damnatis  nulla  quies, 
Sed  dsemonum  effigies. 

To  the  saved  a  day  of  gladness, 
To  the  damned  a  day  of  sadness, 
Demon  forms  and  fhapes  of  madness. 

22.  O  tu  Deus  majeftatis, 
Alme  candor  Trinitatis, 
Nunc  conjunge  cum  beatis  ! 

God  of  majefty  and  brightness  ! 

Trinity's  unspotted  whiteness  ! 

Join  to  saints  with  bonds  of  lightness. 

23.  Vitam  meam  fac  felicem 
Propter  tuam  genetricem, 
Jefle  norem  et  radicem. 


XX  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

Happiness  upon  me  mower, 

For  Thy  Mother's  sake,  with  power 

Who  is  JefTe's  root  and   flower. 

24.      Prxfta  nobis  tunc  levamen, 
Dulce  noftrum  fac  certamen, 
Ut  clamemus  omnes,   Amen  ! 

From  Thy  fulness  comfort  pour  us, 
Fight  Thou  with  us  or  fight  for  us, 
So  we'll  mout,  Amen,  in  chorus. 

Taking  for  granted  that  the  Mantuan  was  the 
original  text,  it  would  follow  that  the  truncation  of 
the  four  introductory  verfes  spoken  of  had  already 
taken  place  at  the  time  of  Hammerlin  ;  and  it  is 
furthermore  obvious  that  the  17th  and  18th  verfes 
of  the  Received  text  muft  have  been  formed  out  of 
the  firft  three  of  the  supplemented  verfes  of  Ham- 
merlin,  as  follows,  viz.  :  by  subftituting,  in  the  17th 
verse,  "  et  acclinis "  for  u  a  ruinis,"  and  taking 
the  firft  two  lines  of  the  two  succeeding  verfes, 
being  triplets,  to  make  up  the  1 8th  verse,  which 
confifts  of  four  lines.  Bating  a  few  verbal  varia- 
tions, the  firft   fixteen  verfes  of  the   Hammerlin   and 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XXI 

Church  texts  correspond.  The  laft  named  is  founded 
on  the  Roman  Miffal  firft  publifhed  in  1567,  under 
the  sanction  and  after  the  revifion  of  the  Council  of 
Trent.  It  forms  the  bafis  of  the  present,  as  it  does 
of  moft  tranflations. 

A  brief  reference  to  some  of  the  more  important 
variations  in  the  text,  and  an  explanation  of  certain 
allufions  which  occur  therein,  may  not  be  unintereft- 
ing.  The  firft  line,  Dies  irce^  dies  illa^  plainly 
points  to  a  paflage  of  Scripture  from  the  Vulgate, — 
Zephaniah  I.  15.  The  whole  verse  reads  thus  : 
"  Dies  ir^e,  dies  illa,  dies  tribulationis  et  anguftiae, 
dies  calamitatis  et  miseriae,  dies  tenebrarum  et  caligi- 
nis,  dies  nebulae  et  turbinis,  dies  tubae  et  clangoris." 
In  the  third  line,  the  change  of  the  Mantuan  read- 
ing, "  Petro  "  into  "  David,"  as  it  now  ftands, 
may  have  been  due,  it  is  conjectured,  to  a  feeling 
that  there  was  greater  appropriateness  in  David's 
being  affociated  with  the  ante-Chriftian  Sibyl.  From 
the  averfion  felt  to  the  introduction  of  a  heathen 
Sibyl  into  a  Chriftian  and  ftill  more  a  Church 
hymn,  a  Miffal  of  the  diocese  of  Metz,  publifhed  in 
1778,  rejecting  the  third    line,  adopts,  but  without 


XXN  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

the  authority  of  a  fingle  manuscript,  another  reading 
as  follows  : 

Dies  ira?,  dies  ilia, 
Crucis  expandens  vexilla, 
Solvet  sceclum  in  favilla. 

Day  of  wrath,  that  day  amazing, 
High  the  bannered  cross  upraifing, 
While  the  universe  is  blazing. 

The  allufion  here  is  to  the  fign  of  the  coming  of 
the  Son  of  Man  in  heaven,  mentioned  in  Matthew 
xxiv.  3  ;  and  is  indicative  of  the  belief,  that  the  fign 
there  spoken  of  would  have  its  fulfilment  in  the 
apparition  of  a  cross  in  the  fky.  But  the  older  and 
the  true  reading  is  doubtless  the  other,  which  refers 
to  the  Sibyl  as  bearing  concurrent  teftimony  with 
the  prophet  of  the  Old  or  the  New  Teftament, 
David  or  Peter,  (Psalm  xcvi.  13  ;  xcvii.  3  ;  xi. 
6  ;  2  Peter  iii.  7,)  touching  the  deftru&ion  of  the 
world  and  the  final  judgment.  The  2d,  7th,  and  8th 
books  of  the  "  Sibylline  Oracles  "  are  full  of  pas- 
sages which  refer  to  these,  but  it  is  probable  that  the 
reference    here    is    more    immediately  to  verfes  ex- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XX111 

trailed  therefrom,  found  in  Lactantius  (Divin.  In- 
ftitut.  lib.  vii.  De  Vita  Beata,  cap.  16-24).  ^n  tne 
earlier  ages  of  the  Church,  these  pretended  prophecies 
were  regarded  with  no  little  veneration  ;  wherefore 
it  is  by  no  means  uncommon  to  find  Chriftian  writ- 
ers placing  them  fide  by  fide  with  Scriptural  proph- 
ecies, and,  as  in  the  case  before  us,  making  solemn 
appeal  to  them.  The  discovery  of  their  true  char- 
after  as  worthless  forgeries  was  reserved  for  a  later 
period. 

This  poem,  which,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe, 
was  originally  the  inspiration  of  retirement,  the  soli- 
tary outpouring  of 

"  a  suppliant  heart  all  crufhed 
And  crumbled  into  contrite  duft," — 

to  adopt  the  language  of  Crafhaw's  verfion  at  the  17th 
verse, —  came  afterwards,  when  it  had  paffed  into 
Church  use,  to  receive  the  title  of  Sequenxe,  from 
the  place  affigned  to  it  in  the  service  of  the  Mass 
for  the  Dead.  The  precise  time  when  this  occurred 
cannot  be  determined,  but  it  muft  have  been  early, 
for  Albizzi  speaks  of  it  as  being  in  common  use 
as   a  Sequence  in  1385.      For  an  explanation  of  this 


XXIV  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

term,   the   reader   is  referred  to  the  Appendix  at  the 
end  of  this  volume. 

If  the  origin  of  the  hymn  be  somewhat  obscure, 
not  so  have  been  its  subsequent  fortunes.  Through 
the  long  centuries  that  have  elapsed  fince  the 
time  it  firft  became  known  to  the  world,  its  ex- 
traordinary merits  have  been  fteadily  recognized. 
Its  light  has  been  that  of  a  ftar,  whose  keen  and 
diamond  luftre  intermits  not  nor  grows  dim,  but 
mines  on  the  same  from  age  to  age.  Its  million 
from  the  beginning  has  been  one  of  power.  To 
some,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  it  has  been  "  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation."  Scattered  every- 
where along  its  track  are  seen  the  luminous  foot- 
prints of  its  victorious  progress  as  the  subduer  of 
hearts.  The  greateft  minds  have  delighted  to  bear 
teftimony  to  its  worth.  Goethe  evinced  his  appre- 
ciation of  it  by  introducing  certain  verses  of  it  into 
his  "Fauft," — with  how  grand  an  effect  we  all  know. 
Boswell  relates  of  Dr.  Johnson,  that,  u  when  he 
would  try  to  repeat  the  celebrated  Prosa  Ecclefiaftica 
pro  Mortuis,  beginning  :  Dies  ira?,  dies  ilia,  he  could 
never  pass  the  ftanza  ending  thus  :  Tantus  labor  non 
fit   cafjus,  without   bluffing    into   a   flood   of  tears." 


HISTORY    OF     THE    HYMN.  XXV 

It  is  said  that  Ancina,  a  ProfefTor  of  Medicine  in 
the  Univerfity  of  Turin,  was  so  ftrongly  affected  by 
hearing  one  day  the  Dies  Iras  chanted  in  the  service 
for  the  dead,  that  he  determined  to  abandon  the 
world.  He  afterwards  became  Bifhop  of  Saluzzo. 
Milman,  in  his  "  Hiftory  of  Chriftianity,"  speaking  of 
the  Latin  poetry  of  the  Chriftian  Church,  remarks  : 
u  There  is  nothing,  in  my  judgment,  to  be  compared 
with  the  monkifh  Dies  ira,  dies  ilia.'"  To  these 
names  might  be  added  those  of  many  other  eminent 
scholars  and  critics,  all  bearing  like  teftimony.  But 
the  crowning  proof  of  its  unrivalled  excellence  is 
found  in  the  fact,  that,  mingled  with  the  fighs  and 
gaspings  of  diffolving  Nature,  the  measured  beat  of 
its  melodious  rhythm  has  been  so  often  heard  ;  now, 
it  may  be,  in  the  soft  murmur  of  words  half  audible, 
and  now  in  the  clear  tones  of  a  diftinct  utterance, 
iffuing  from  the  pale  and  trembling  lips  of  the  dying. 
The  Earl  of  Roscommon,  we  are  told,  repeated  with 
great  energy  and  devotion,  in  the  moment  when  he 
expired,  two  lines  of  his  own  tranflation  of  the  17th 
verse  : — 

"  My  God,  my  Father,  and  my  Friend, 
Do  not  forsake  me  in  my  end  ! " 
d 


XXVI  HISTORY    OF     THE    HYMN. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  evinced  his  regard  for  it  in  the  same 
affecting  manner,  during  his  laft  hours  :  "  We  very 
often,"  says  his  biographer,  "  heard  diitinctly  the 
cadence  of  the   Dies   Irse." 

It  is  certainly  somewhat  remarkable,  that,  while 
thus  solemnly  aflbciated  with  the  dying  moments  of 
these  two  illuftrious  mafters  of  song,  who  had  likewise 
employed  their  pens  in  the  tafk  of  rendering  it  into 
Englifh,  it  fhould  have  had  a  connection  not  diflim- 
ilar  with  the  death  of  that  great  composer  by  whose 
means  this  immortal  poem  has  come  to  be  worthily 
wedded  to  immortal  mufic.  It  is  well  known  that 
Alozart's  Requiem  is  founded  on  it.  This,  his 
greater!:  work,  perhaps,  was  deftined  also  to  be  his 
laft,  of  which,  it  is  said,  he  had  a  solemn  presenti- 
ment. His  death  occurred  before  it  was  entirely 
finifhed.  Befides  Mozart,  other  diftinguifhed  com- 
posers, such  as  Cherubini,  Haydn,  Jomelli,  Palaftrina, 
and  Pergolefi,  have  exercised  their  genius  upon  the 
same  theme  and  the  same  text. 


TRANSLATIONS    OF   THE    HYMN. 


HE  number  of  tranflations  made  of  this 
hymn  into  different  languages  it  were 
not  easy  to  eftimate.  Those  in  Ger- 
man are  particularly  numerous.  In  a 
work  dedicated  to  these,  edited  by  Dr.  F.  G.  Lisco, 
(Berlin,  1840,)  as  many  as  seventy  verfions,  more  or 
less  complete,  are  given  ;  the  number  being  further 
increased  three  years  afterwards  by  the  addition  of 
seventeen  others,  appended  to  a  volume  of  tranfla- 
tions,  by    the    same    editor,   of   the    Stabat  Mater.* 


*  For  the  loan  of  both  the  above  works  the  writer  is  in- 
debted to  the  Rev.  William  R.  Williams,  D.  D.,  who,  in  a 
Note,  afterwards  somewhat  enlarged  and  thrown  into  an  Appen- 
dix, affixed  to  an  Address  on  the  "  Conservative  Principle  of 
our  Literature,"  firit  published  in  1843,  and  subsequently  in- 
cluded   in   his   volume   of  "  Miscellanies,"    has,  with  his  usual 


XXV  111  TRANSLATIONS     OF    THE     HYMN. 

There  is  one  in  French,  one  in  Romaic  or  Modern 
Greek,  one  in  Dutch,  and  one  in  Latin,  all  the  reit. 
being  German.  In  nearly  every  case,  pains  have 
been  taken  to  preserve  the  exact  measure  and  form 
of  the  original.  The  superior  flexibility  of  the  Ger- 
man, and  its  greater  supply  of  words  adapted  for 
double  rhyme,  give  tranflators  in  that  language  a 
decided  advantage.  The  difficulty  involved  in  tripli- 
cating the  double  rhymes,  owing  to  the  poverty  of 
our  language  in  words  suitable  for  the  purpose,  with- 
out practifing  awkward  and  inelegant  inverfions,  is 
probably  the  reason  why  English  tranflators,  even 
where  they  have  been  careful  to  retain  the  triplet 
form  of  the  ftanza,  have  failed  to  preserve  the 
rhyming   close. 

Crafhaw's,  one  of  the  oldeit  and  nobleft  of  the 
English  tranflations,  and  which  in  the  opinion  of  an 
eminent  critic  was  not  surpaffed  by  anything  he  ever 
wrote,  is  done  in  quatrains,  or  Tingle  rhymed  couplets 

eloquence  and  exhauftive  learning,  given  a  very  full  and  inftruc- 

tive   account  of  this   hymn   and   its   tranflations;   adding   in    the 

later  editions  a  \eilion  of  his  own.  one  ot  the  first  made  in 
ternary  double  rh\  me. 


TRANSLATIONS     OF     THE     HYMN.  XXIX 

repeated  ;  and,  on  account  of  the  freeness  of  the  ren- 
dering, might  more  properly  be  called  a  reproduction 
than  a  translation.  The  Earl  of  Roscommon,  cele- 
brated in  Dryden's  verse  as  the  greateft  poet  of  his 
time,  was  the  author  of  a  verfion  praised  by  Pope 
as  the  beft  of  his  poetical  performances  ;  although  he 
is  confidered  as  having  borrowed  both  from  Crafhaw 
and  Dryden.  It  is  in  triplets  like  the  original,  but 
without  double  rhyme,  and  the  verse  is  iambic  in- 
ftead  of  trochaic. 

The  few  verfes  introduced  by  Sir  Walter  Scott 
into  the  u  Lay  of  the  Laft  Minftrel,"  and  which  have 
found  their  way  into  almoft  all  the  more  recent  Col- 
lections of  Hymns  used  in  our  Churches,  though 
spirited  and  impreffive,  can  scarcely  be  called  a  trans- 
lation, being  little  more  than  an  echo  of  one  or  two 
of  the  leading  sentiments  of  the  Latin  original. 
Another  familiar  hymn,  contained  in  moft  Hymn 
books,  commencing, 

"  Lo  !   He  comes  in  clouds  descending," 

purports  to  be  a  translation  of  the  Dies  Irae  \  but 
in  respect   neither  to  form  nor  spirit  does   it  corre- 


XXX  TRANSLATIONS     OF     THE      HYMN. 

spond  very  accurately  to  the  original.  Although  there 
are  other  verfions  of  more  or  less  merit,  some  made 
by  our  own  scholars,  a  further  enumeration  might  be 
tedious.  "  It  is  not  wonderful,"  as  Trench  remarks, 
u that  a  poem  such  as  this  mould  have  continually 
allured  and   continually  defied  tranflators." 

The  Author  of  the  Tran  flat  ions  here  publifhed 
scarcely  knows  how  to  fhield  himself  from  the  im- 
putation of  presumption  to  which  his  attempt  ex- 
poses him.  The  number  of  his  verfions  is  Thir- 
teen. The  first  fix  have  the  somewhat  rare  merit, 
so  far  at  leaft  as  Englifh  verfions  are  concerned,  of 
being  metrically  conformed,  both  as  it  respects 
rhyme  and  rhythm,  to  the  original.  The  five  suc- 
ceeding ones  are  like  in  rhythm,  but  vary  horn  the 
original  in  not  preserving  the  double  rhyme.  The 
one  which  follows  is  in  iambic  triplets,  like  Roscom- 
mon's ;  and  the  laft  in  quatrains,  after  the  manner 
of  Crafhaw's   verfion. 

It  has  been  the  aim  of  the  Tranflator  to  be  in  all 
cafes  as  faithful  as  porTible  to  the  senie  and  spirit 
of  the  original,  and  likewise  to  the  letter,  but  not 
so    fiavifhly    as    to    preclude    variety.        He    has    en- 


TRANSLATIONS    OF    THE    HYMN.  XXXI 

deavored  to  carry  out  likeness  in  unlikeness,  and  to 
give  to  each  verfion,  so  far  as  practicable,  the  intereft 
of  a  diflinct  poem.  How  far  he  has  succeeded 
others  muft  judge.  The  preservation  of  the  double 
rhyme  involved  some  special  difficulties,  which  he  has 
overcome  as  well  as  he  could  ;  but  he  would  not  be 
surprised  if  some  readers  preferred  the  eafier  metres, 
and  indulges  the  hope  that  the  multiplication  of  ver- 
fions  may  serve,  among  other  things,  to  meet  this 
diverfity  of  tafte.  But  there  are  some,  if  he  mis- 
takes not,  who  enjoy  those  pleasing  surprises  in 
viewing  an  object,  that  result  from  an  altered  atti- 
tude and  a  new  angle  of  vision, — the  curious  changes 
which  follow  every  fresh  turn  of  a  revolving  kaleido- 
scope,— and  the  writer  is  willing  therefore  to  believe 
that  such,  at  any  rate,  will  not  be  displeased  at  this 
attempt  to  supply  the  deficiency  of  one  verfion  by 
another  and  yet  another,  in  the  hope  that  thereby 
the  original  may  be  exhibited,  approximately  at  least, 
in   its   solid   entireness. 

Young,  in  his  "  Effay  on  Lyric  Poetry,"  afferts 
that  difficulty  overcome  gives  grace  and  pleasure, 
and  he  accounts  for  the  pleasure  of  rhyme  in  general 


XXXII  TRANSLATIONS    OF    THE    HYMN. 

upon  this  principle.  Having  failed  in  his  own  case 
to  afford  an  exemplification  of  great  success  in  this 
particular,  his  critic  and  biographer,  Johnson,  some- 
what sarcastically  remarks  :  u  But  then  the  writer 
mult  take  care  that  the  difficulty  is  overcome  ;  that 
is,  he  mult  make  rhyme  confift  with  as  perfect 
senfe  and  expreffion  as  would  be  expected,  if  he 
were  perfectly  free  from  that  fhackle."  Hence,  the 
greater  the  difficulties  to  be  surmounted,  the  greater 
is  the  need  of  elaboration,  until  art  conceals  art. 

The  present  Translator,  recognizing  fully  the  pro- 
priety of  the  rule  here  ftated,  does  not  feel  that  he 
has  any  right  to  plead  the  arduousness  of  his  tafk,  as 
an  excuse  for  any  in  (ranees,  if  such  there  be,  of 
forced  and  unnatural  conflrucrion,  resorted  to  in 
order  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  rhyme  or  metre. 
What  is  called  poetic  license  is,  he  is  aware,  a 
license  of  power  and  grace,  and  not  of  weakness  and 
deformity,  being  tantamount  to  a  license  to  dance  or 
fing,  in  place  of  ordinary  walking  or  speaking.  Po- 
etic chains,  undoubtedly,  were  meant  not  to  confine 
and  cripple,  but  to  regulate  movement  in  conformity 
with   settled    laws  ;    the   object   being,  not   to    punifh 


TRANSLATIONS    OF    THE    HYMN.  XXXlll 

speech,  but  to  exalt  and  honor  it, — to  grace  language, 
not  disgrace  it. 

To  preserve,  in  connection  with  the  utmost  fidelity 
and  ftrictness  of  rendering,  all  the  rhythmic  merits 
of  the  Latin  original, — to  attain  to  a  vital  likeness  as 
well  as  to  an  exact  literalness,  at  the  same  time  that 
nothing  is  sacrificed  of  its  mufical  sonorousness  and 
billowy  grandeur,  easy  and  graceful  in  its  swing  as 
the  ocean  on  its  bed, — to  make  the  verbal  copy, 
otherwise  cold  and  dead,  glow  with  the  fire  of  lyric 
passion, — to  reflect,  and  that  too  by  means  of  a  fingle 
verfion,  the  manifold  aspects  of  the  many-sided  orig- 
inal, exhaufting  at  once  its  wonderful  fulness  and 
pregnancy, — to  cause  the  white  light  of  the  primitive 
so  to  pass  through  the  medium  of  another  language 
as  that  it  fhall  undergo  no  refraction  whatever, — 
would  be  defirable,  certainly,  were  it  practicable  \ 
but  so  much  as  this  it  were  unreasonable  to  expect 
in  any  tranflation. 

All  the  verfions  here  given  were  written  and  nearly 

ready  for  the  press   more  than  two  years  ago  ;   but, 

influenced   partly  by  a  senfe  of  their  imperfectness, 

and  partly  by  a  doubt  as  to  the  reception  that  a  book 

e 


XXXIV  TRANSLATIONS    OF    THE    HYMN. 

exclufively  devoted  to  a  fingle  hymn  might  meet 
with  from  the  public,  the  Translator  has  delayed 
their  appearance  until  now,  when,  encouraged  by 
the  favorable  opinion  expreffed  by  some,  whose 
names,  were  it  proper  to  give  them,  would  be  re- 
garded, he  doubts  not,  as  an  apology  for  his  bold- 
ness, he  ventures  the  experiment  of  publication. 
He  does  not  deny  that  the  amount  of  public  favor 
that  has  been  already  accorded  to  two  of  the  ver- 
fions,  viz.,  those  marked  I.  and  II.,  which  firfl 
appeared  in  the  "Newark  Daily  Advertiser"  sev- 
eral years  fince,  the  firft  as  long  ago  as  1847,  nas 
had  something  to  do  with  overcoming  his  diftruft. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  ftate,  that  two  verses 
of  the  firfl:  tranflation  were  introduced  into  Mrs. 
Stowe's  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  and  by  these  acci- 
dental means  have  enjoyed  a  world-wide  currency. 
More  recently  this  verfion  has  been  honored  with 
a  place  in  the  "  Plymouth  Collection  of  Hymns  and 
Tunes,"  edited  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  and  set 
to  mufic.  It  was,  so  far  as  the  ±  ranflator  knows, 
the  firft  attempt,  with  a  fingle  exception,  to  repro- 
duce in  English  the  ternary  double  rhyme  of  the 
original. 


Si 


o 

Eh 
< 

w 
a 

&> 

8   , 
w   1 

*  ! 

CO 

to 

M 

« 
3} 
U 


*  ^ '  >*L 


DE    NOVISSIMO   JUDICIO. 


IES  irae,  dies  ilia 
Solvet  saeclum  in  favilla, 
Tefte  David   cum   Sibylla. 


Quantus  tremor  eft  futurus, 
Quando  Judex  eft  venturus, 
Cun&a  ftrifte  discuffurus  ! 

Tuba,  mirum  spargens  sonum 
Per  sepulchra  regionum, 
Coget  omnes   ante  thronum. 


Mors  ftupebit  et  natura, 
Quum  resurget  creatura 
Judicanti  responsura. 

i 


DIES     1RJE. 

Liber  scriptus  ptoferetur, 
In  quo  totum  continetur, 

De  quo  mundus  judicctur. 

Judex  ergo  quum  sedebit, 
Quidquid  latet,  apparebit, 
Nil   inultum   remanebit. 

Quod  sum  miser  tunc  dicturus, 
Quern  patronum   rogaturus, 
Quum   vix  juftus   fit   securus  ? 

Rex  tremendae  majeftatis, 
Qui   salvandos   salvas  gratis, 
Salva   me,   fons   pietatis ! 

Recordare,  Jesu   pie, 
Quod   sum  causa  tua?   vise, 
Ne   me  perdas  ilia  die  ! 

Quaerens   me  sedifti  laflus, 
Redemifti  crucem   paflfus  : 
Tantus  labor  non  fit  caffus! 


DIES     1RJE. 

Jufte  Judex   ultionis, 
Donum   fac  remiflionis 
Ante  diem  rationis  ! 

Ingemisco  tanquam  reus, 
Culpa  rubet  vultus  meus  : 
Supplicanti  parce,  Deus  ! 

Qui  Mariam  absolvifti, 
Et  latronem   exaudifti, 
Mihi  quoque  spem  dedifti. 

Prasces   meae  non   sunt  dignar, 
Sed   tu  bonus   fac  benigne 
Ne  perenni  cremer  igne  ! 

Inter  oves  locum  praefta, 
Et  ab  haedis   me  sequeftra, 
Statuens  in  parte  dextra ! 

Confutatis  maledi&is, 
Flammis  acribus   addidlis, 
Voca  me  cum  benedictis  ! 


DIES     IRiT. 

Oro  supplex  et  acclinis, 
Cor  contritum  quasi  cinis  : 
Gere  curam   mei   finis  ! 

Lachrymosa  dies   ilia, 
Qua  resurget  ex   favilla, 
Judicandus   homo  reus  : 
Huic  ergo  parce,   Deus ! 


I. 


AY  of  wrath,  that  day  of  burning, 
Seer  and  Sibyl  speak  concerning, 
All  the  world   to  afhes  turning. 


Oh,  what  fear  (hall  it  engender, 

When  the  Judge  fhall  come  in  splendor, 

Strict  to  marlc  and  juft  to  render  ! 

Trumpet,  scattering  sounds  of  wonder, 
Rending  sepulchres  asunder, 
Shall  resiftless   summons  thunder. 


All  aghaft  then  Death   fhall  fhiver, 
And  great  Nature's  frame  fhall  quiver, 
When  the  graves  their  dead  deliver. 


DIES    1RJE. 

Book,  where  actions   are   recorded, 

All   the   ages   have   afforded, 

Shall   be   brought  and  dooms  awarded. 

When  fhall  fit  the  Judge   unerring, 
He'll  unfold  all  here  occurring, 
No  juft   vengeance  then  deferring. 

What  fhall   /  say,  that  time   pending  ? 
Ask  what  advocate's  befriending, 
When  the  juft  man  needs  defending  ? 

King  almighty  and  all-knowing, 
Grace  to  finners   freely  mowing, 
Save  me,  Fount  of  Good  o'erflowing  ! 

Think,   O  Jesus,   for  what  reason 

Thou  didft  bear  earth's  spite  and  treason, 

Nor  me  lose  in  that  dread  season  ! 

Seeking  me  Thy  worn   feet  hafted, 
On   the  cross   Thy  soul  death   tafted  : 
Let  such   travail   not  be  wafted  ! 


DIES    IRJE. 

Righteous  Judge  of  retribution  ! 
Make   me  gift  of  absolution 
Ere  that  day  of  execution  ! 

Culprit-like,  I  plead,  heart-broken, 
On  my  cheek  fhame's  crimson  token  : 
Let  the  pardoning  word  be  spoken  ! 

Thou,  who  Mary  gav'ft  remifTion, 
Heard'ft   the  dying  Thief's   petition, 
Cheer'ft  with  hope   my  loft  condition. 

Though   my  prayers   be   void  of  merit, 
What  is  needful,  Thou  confer  it, 
Left  I  endless  fire  inherit  ! 

Be  there,  Lord,  my  place  decided 
With  Thy  fheep,   from  goats  divided, 
Kindly  to  Thy  right  hand  guided  ! 

When  th'  accursed  away  are  driven, 

To  eternal  burnings  given, 

Call   me  with   the  blessed  to   heaven! 


DIES    1RJF. 

I  beseech  Thee,  proftrate  lying, 
Heart  as  afhes,  contrite,  fighing, 
Care   for  me  when   I   am  dying  ! 

Day  of  tears  and   late  repentance, 
Man  mail  rise  to  hear  his  sentence  : 
Him,  the  child  of  guilt  and  error, 
Spare,  Lord,  in  that  hour  of  terror  ! 


II. 

AY   fhall  dawn  that  has   no  morrow, 
Day  of  vengeance,  day  of  sorrow, 
As  from   Prophecy  we  borrow. 


It  fhall  burn,  that  day  of  trouble, 
As  a  furnace  heated  double, 
And  the  wicked  fhall  be   ftubble. 

O,  what  trembling,  when  the  rifted 
Skies  mall  fhow  the  Judge  uplifted, 
And  all  ftrictly  fhall  be   fifted! 

Trump  (hall  sound  a  blaft  appalling, 
On  the  grave's  deep  ftillness  falling, 
Small  and  great  before   Him  calling. 

Death   with   fear  fhall  be  o'ertaken, 
Nature  to  her  base  be  fhaken, 
When   the   fleeping  dead   fhall   waken. 


10  DIES     IR^E. 

Volume   fhall   be  brought,  whose   pages 

Regifter  the  deeds  of  ages, 

Whence  the   world   mail   have  juft  wages. 

When   that  Court  fhall   hold   its  seffion, 
Every   mouth   fhall   make  confeffion, 
Left   unpunifhed   no  transgreflion. 

How,  alas  !   in  that  dread   season, 
Shall   I   answer  for  my  treason, 
When  the   righteous   fear  with   reason  ? 

Awful   King,  who  nothing  craved:, 
Since  Thyself  full  ransom  gaveft, 
Save  Thou   me,  who   freely  saveft ! 

Me,   for  whom,  with   love  so  tender, 
Thou   didft  leave  Thy  throne  of  splendor, 
Jesus,  do  not  then   surrender  ! 

Wearily   for  me  Thou   toiledft, 
Died  ft   for   me  and   Satan   spoiled  ft  : 
Let   not  triumph   whom    Thou   foiled  ft  ! 


DIES    1RJE.  I  I 

Thou,  whose  frown  will  be  damnation, 
Grant  me  earneft  of  salvation, 
Ere  that  day  of  consummation  ! 

Culprit-like,   I,  self-convicted, 
Blufhing,  proftrate,  and  afflicted, 
Kneel   for  mercy   unreftricted. 

Thou,  who  Mary's   faith  rewardedlt, 
Pardon  to  the  Thief  accordedft, 
Me,  too,  trembling  hope  affbrdedft. 

Poor  my  prayers,  but  give  ensample 
Of  Thy  goodness   rich   and  ample, 
Left  insulted  Juftice  trample  ! 

With  Thy  chosen   flock  unspotted, 
Severed  from  the  herd  besotted, 
Be  my  place  that  day  allotted  ! 

When  the  damned  Thy  curse  dismiffes 

Down  to  fiery   abyffes, 

Call   me  near  and   seal  with   kiffes  ! 


12 


DIES     I  RTF.. 


Care   for  me  as  one  who   fearcth, 
One  who  hafteth   when  he   heareth, 
When  my  solemn  exit  neareth! 

When   the  light  of  that  day   flames, 
And   man   rises   from   his  allies 
At  Thy  bar  account  to  render, 
Spare  then,  Lord,  the  pale  offender  ! 


III. 


g®    THAT  day,  that  day  of  anger, 
Conflagration,   crafh  and  clangor, 
Swooning  horror,   mortal  languor  ! 

Guilty  wretches,  vainly  fleeing 

From  that  flaming  Eye,  whose  seeing 

Searches  all  the  depths  of  being. 

Wakened  by  that  Trump  of  Wonder, 
Answering  Earthquakes,  roaring  under, 
Heave  and  split  the  ground  asunder  ; 

And  the  buried  generations, 
People  of  all  times  and  nations, 
Live  again  and  take  their  ftations, 

Each  immortal  pale  offender, 

Round  the  Great  White   Throne  of  Splendor, 

Strict  account  to  God   to  render  ; 


I  I  DIES     lR;*:. 

Who,   un mocked   and   unmiftaken, 
Shall   pronounce   the  doom   unfhaken, 
And   long   fl umbering   vengeance   waken. 

What  if  weighed  and   found  deficient  ? 
Standing  at  Thy  bar  omniscient, 
Who   hath  righteousness  sufficient  ? 

King  of  Holiness   unspotted, 
By  Thy  merit  me  allotted 
Let  my  guilt  be  freely  blotted  ! 

Me,   for  whom   Thou   fhame   didft  borrow, 
Trod' ft  the   paths  of  earthly  sorrow, 
Lose   not  on   that  dreadful   morrow  ! 

Seeking  me  Thou  weary  sankeft, 
All  my  cup  of  trembling  drankeft, 
Filled   with   reddeft  wrath   and   rankeft. 

Must   I    fink  yet  to   perdition  ? 
God   of  Vengeance,   grant   re  million, 
Ere  that  Day  of  Inquifition  ! 


DIES    IRiE.  15 

Filled  with   fhame  and  condensation, 
Lifting  hands  of  supplication, 
Spare  me,  God  of  my  Salvation  ! 

Let  such  grace  be  manifefted, 

As  on  weeping  Mary  refted, 

As  was  towards  the  Thief  attefted  ! 

Though  no  worth  in  me  discerning, 
Spurn  not,  though  I  merit  spurning  : 
Rescue  me  from  endless  burning  ! 

Fold  me,  when  Thou  place  afligneft, 

When  Thou  characters  defined, 

With  Thy  fheep  through  grace  divineft ! 

When  Thy  curse  from  Thee  fhall  sever, 
Kindling  hells,  extinguifhed  never, 
Join  me  to  Thyself  forever  ! 

From  the  afhes  of  contrition, 
From  the  depths  I  make  petition  : 
Grant  my  soul  a  safe   dismiffion  ! 


lb 


DIES     1R^. 


When  that  day   (hall   snare   th'   unwary, 
And   fhall  guilty    man   unbury, 
Spare   him   then,    Dread   Adversary  ! 


IV. 

AY   of  Prophecy  !   it  flafhes, 
Falling  spheres    together  dailies, 
And  the  world  consumes  to  afhes. 


O,  what  fear  of  wrath  impending, 
When  the  Judge  is  seen  descending, 
Inquifition  ftrict  intending ! 

God's  awakening  Trump  fhall  scatter 
Summons  through  the  world  of  matter, 
And  the  Throne  of  Death  fhall  fhatter. 

What  amazement,  when  forgotten 
Generations,  dead  and  rotten, 
Suddenly  are  rebegotten ! 

Book  and   Record   universal 
Shall  be  opened   for  rehearsal, 
Whence  the  doom  without  reversal. 
3 


l8  DIES     IR/E. 

When   by  that  dread  Judge   inspected, 
Nothing  fhall   pass   undetected, 
Unavenged   nor   uncorrected. 

How   fhall  I,  a  wretch   unftable, 

Bide   that   hour  inevitable, 

When   the  juft   man  scarce  is  able  ? 

Dreadful  King,  from  Thee,  the  Giver, 
Flows   salvation  like  a  river  : 
Fount  of  Mercy,  me  deliver  ! 

Thou,  who,  touched  with   my  condition, 
Sought  to  save   me  from  perdition, 
Be  Thou   mindful  of  Thy  mifTion  ! 

Let  Thy  death  for  my  offences, 
Horror  of  Thy  soul  and  senses, 
Be  not   void  of  consequences ! 

Blot  my   fins,  ere  that  revifion, 
Day  of  ultimate   decifion, 
When    Thy   foes  are   in   derifion  ! 


DIES    1RJE. 

From  my  eyes  repentance  gufhes, 

O'er  my  cheeks  spread  crimson  blufhes  : 

Spare  the  worm  Thy  terror  crufhes  ! 

Thou,  who  wert  of  old  moft  gracious 
Ev'n  to  finners  moft  audacious, 
Is  Thy  mercy  now  less  spacious  ? 

Worthless  all  the  prayers  I  offer  : 
Grace  muft  seal  what  grace  doth  proffer, 
Else  I  perifh  with  the  scoffer. 

When  Thou  makeft  separation, 
With  Thy  sheep  affign  my  ftation, 
Saints  of  every  age  and  nation  ! 

When  the  malison  eternal 
Banifhes  to  fires  infernal, 
Bid  me  enter  realms   supernal ! 

Thou,  who  doft,  with  care   unfleeping, 
Keep  that  trufted   to  Thy  keeping, 
Save  my  eves  from  endless  weeping  ! 


20 


DIES    IRJE. 


Day  of  tears,   consuming,   cruel, 
With   a  burning  world   for   fuel, 
Man   fhall  rise   from  glowing  embers, 
Made  complete  in  all   his   members  : 
Ah!  what  plea  will  then  be   valid, 
When  the  finner,  trembling,  pallid, 
Waits  to  hear  his  sentence  given  ? 
Spare  him  then,  O  God  of  Heaven ! 


V. 


fc£?  AY  of  vengeance,  end  of  scorning, 
)    World  in  afhes,  world  in   mourning, 
[#    Whereof  Prophets  utter  warning  ! 

O,  what  trembling,  when  the  falling 
Rocks  and  mountains  hear  men  calling, 
"Hide  me  from  that  face  appalling!  " 

Freezing  fear  the  blood  will  thicken, 
Death  and   Hell  be  horror-ftricken, 
When  the  myftic  Trump  fhall  quicken 

All  the  buried  duft  of  ages, — 
Monarchs,  chieftains,  ftatesmen,  sages, 
Actors  on  unnumbered  ftages, — 

Summoned   to  the  dread  recital 
Of  that  Record  ftridt.  and   vital, 
Basis  of  a  juft  requital, — 


22  DIES    IR^E. 

In  that  terrible  ordeal, 
Tried   by  ftandards  not  ideal, 
But  infallible  and  real. 

'Mid  the   horror  and  confufion 
Of  that  sorrowful  conclufion 
Of  each   miserable  delufion, 

Whither,  ah!  fhall   I   betake   me? 

Thou,  O   King,  whose  terrors  fhalce   me, 

Of  Thy  grace  a  trophy  make   me! 

Jesus  !  by  Thine  incarnation, 
By  Thy  miflion  of  salvation, 
Then  avert  juft  condemnation  ! 

By  Thy  pity,  love  unfailing, 
By  the  cross's  bitter  nailing, 
Let  not  all   be   unavailing  ! 

Thou,   whose   right   hand   grasps   the   thunder, 
Grant   me   timely   refuge   under 
Wings  of  majefty  and   wonder  ! 


DIES    IR7E.  23 

Spare  a  culprit,  groans  faft  heaving, 
Self-convi&ed,  blufhing,  grieving, 
In  Thy  power  and  grace  believing. 

Since  Thy  nature  doth  not  vary, 

Thou,  who  heard'ft  the  Thief  and   Mary, 

My  transgreflions  blot  and  bury  ! 

Worthless  works  behind  me  cafting — 
Grace  muft  save,  not  prayer  nor  fading, 
From  the  fire  that's  everlafting. 

Making  final  segregation, 

With  Thy  chosen  fix  my  ftation 

In  the  fheep-fold  of  salvation  ! 

When  Thy  curse  the  wicked  chases, 
With  the  bleft  in  heavenly  places 
Call  me  to  Thy  dear  embraces ! 

Care  for  me,  whom  guilt  abafhes, 
Proftrate,  contrite,  heart  as  afhes, 
When  that  day  of  terror  flames  ! 


24 


DIES    IR^E. 


Day  of  weeping   and   of  wailing, 
Human  hearts  and   fates   unveiling  : 
Then,  when  Time   fhall   be  no  longer, 
And  the   ftrong  yields   to  the   Stronger, 
Death  and   Hell  their  dead    surrender, 
And   the   Sea  its  own  fhall  tender, 
Multitudinous,   unbounded 
Generations  rise  aftounded, 
Each  to  answer  for  his   finning, 
He  who  lived  at  the  beginning, 
He  who  when  the  world   is   hoary, — 
Spare,   O,  spare,  Thou   God  of  Glory! 


VI. 

e)  AY  of  wrath  and  confternation, 
plffflj    Day  of  fiery  consummation, 
\Qfcjfw$l    Prophefied  in  Revelation ! 


O,   what   horror  on  all   faces, 

When  the  coming  Judge  each  traces, 

Flaming,   dreadful,  in  all  places  ! 

Trump  mail  sound,  and   every  Tingle 
Mortal  slumberer's  ears  {hall  tingle, 
And  the  dead   (hall  rise  and   mingle  : 

All  of  every  tribe  and  nation, 
That  have  lived  fince  the  creation, 
Answering  that  dread  citation. 

Volume,   from  which   nothing's  blotted, 
Evil  done  nor  evil   plotted, 
Shall  be  brought  and  dooms   allotted. 
4 


26  DIES     1RJE. 

Judge,  who  fits  at  that  aflizes, 
Shall,  deceived  by  no  disguises, 
Try  each   work  that  man   devises. 

Who  can  ftand  when   He  appeareth  ? 
Plead  or  answer  when   He  heareth  ? 
Or  so  righteous  but  then   feareth  ? 

Awful  A4onarch  of  Creation  ! 
Saving  without  compensation, 
Save   me,   Fountain  of  Salvation ! 

Lose   me  not  then,  Jefus,  seeing 
I  am  Thine  by  gift  of  being, 
Doubly  Thine  by  price  of  freeing  ! 

Thou,  the  Lord  of  Life   and   Glory, 
Hung'ft  a  victim  gamed  and  gory  : 
Let  not  all  be  nugatory ! 

Pardon,  Thou   whose   vengeance   smiteth, 
But  whom   mercy  moft  delighteth, 
Ere  that  reclc'ning  day  aftVighteth  ! 


DIES    IRJE.  27 

As  a  culprit,  ftand  I  groaning, 
Blufhing,  my  demerit  owning  : 
Sprinkle  me  with  blood  atoning  ! 

Thou,  who  Mary's  sins  remittedft, 
And  the  softened  Thief  acquittedft, 
Likewise  hope  to  me  permitted!!:. 

Weak  these  prayers  Thy  throne  affailing ; 
But  let  grace,  o'er  guilt  prevailing, 
Save  me  from  eternal  wailing  ! 

While  the  goats  afar  are  driven, 
'Mid  Thy  fheep  me  place  be  given, 
Blood-wafhed  favorites  of  Heaven  ! 

While  "  Depart !  "  fhall  doom  and  gather 
Those  to  flame,  address  me  rather  : 
"  Come  thou  bleffed  of  my  Father  !  " 

In   my  final  hour,  when   faileth 

Heart  and  flefh,  and   my  cheek  paleth, 

Grant  that  succor   which   availeth  ! 


28 


DIES     1RJE. 


Day   unutterably   solemn  : 
Crypt  and   pyramid   and   column, 
Ifle  and   continent   and   ocean, 
Rocking  with   a  fearful   motion, 
Shall  give   up,  a  countless   number 
Starting  from   their  long,  long  flumber, 
Horror  (tamping  every   feature, 
While   is  judged   each   (inful   creature, 
End   of  pending  controversy  : 
Spare  Thou  then,   O   God  of  Mercy  ! 


VII. 

AY  of  wrath,  that  day  of  days, 
Present  to  my   thought  always, 
V    When     the    world     (hall     burn     and 
blaze ! 


O,  what  trembling,   O,   what  fear, 
When  th'   Omniscient  Judge  draws  near, 
Scanning  all   with   eyes  severe ! 

When  the  Trump  of  God  fhall  sound 
Through  the  vague  and  vaft  profound 
Of  the  regions  under  ground  j 

And  th'   innumerable  dead, 
Answering  to  that  summons  dread, 
Shall   forsake   their  dully   bed  ; 

And  that  Book  of  ancient  date 
Shall  be  opened,  whereon  wait 
Mighty   iffues  big  with   fate  ; 


30  DIES    IRit. 

And  each  secret  thing  {hall  lie 
Thenceforth  bare  to  every  eye, 
Nought   unpunifhed  or  palled   by. 

Ah,   me  !   what  (hall   I   then  plead, 
Who  for  me  then  intercede, 
When  the  jufl  of  help   have  need  ? 

Thou,  who  doft,   O   Heavenly  King, 
Free  forgiveness   freely  bring, 
Let  me  drink  of  Mercy's   Spring  ! 

Thou  didft  empty  and  exhauft 
Heaven  for  me  :   when   such   the  coft, 
Jesus,  let  me  not  be  loft! 

Wearily  Thou   soughteft   me, 
Bought'ft  me  on  th'  accursed   tree  : 
Let  it  not  all   fruitless  be  ! 

Righteous   Judge,   who   wilt   repay, 
Grant   me   pardon,   ere    that  day 
Of  decifion   and   dismay  ! 


DIES    IRj*E. 

I,  a  finful  man  and  base, 
Blufhing,  groaning  o'er  my  case, 
Seek  and  supplicate  Thy  grace. 

Thou,  who  heardeft  Mary's  fighs, 
Thou,  who  openedft  Paradise 
To  the  Thief,  regard  my  cries  ! 

Worthless  are  my  prayers  and  worse, 
But,  good  Lord,  be  not  adverse, 
Left  I  fink  beneath  the  curse  ! 

Set  me,  when  at  Thy  command 

All  mankind  divided  ftand, 

With  the  fheep  at  Thy  right  hand  ! 

When  th'  insufferable  doom 
Shall  the  reprobate  consume, 
With  Thy  chosen  give  me  room  ! 

In  the  solemn  hour  of  death, 
When  the  earthly  vanifheth, 
O,  receive   my  parting  breath  ! 


3* 


3* 


DIES     IR7E. 


Ah  !   that  day   made   up   of  tears, 

When   from   afhes    reappears 

Th'   Adam  of  fix  thousand  years, — 

Who,   by   its  red  glare  and  gleam, 
Sees,  as  in  an  awful  dream, 
Juftice  lift  her  trembling  beam, — 

Conscious  on   that  hinge  of  fate 
All  things   hang  and   hefitate  : 
Spare  then,  Lord,  if  not  too  late ! 


VIII. 

THAT  dreadful  day,  my  soul ! 
Which  the  ages  fhall  unroll, 
When  the    knell    of  Time    fhall 
toll! 


O,  the  terror  and  the  fhame, 
When  the  Judge  with   eyes  of  flame 
Shall  make  piercing  search  of  blame ! 

At  the  Trumpet's  sudden  fhock, 

Doors  of  Hades  fhall  unlock, 

And  the  summoned  dead  fhall  flock, 

Gathered  round  the  Great  White  Throne, 
Each   to  answer  and   make  known, 
While  amazement  turns  to  ftone  : 

Then  the  Record  fhall  be  spread 
Which  recites  all  done  and  said 
By  the  living  and  the  dead. 
5 


34  DIES    IRJF. 

Every   idle   word   and   thought, 
Every  work  in  secret  wrought, 
Into  Judgment   (hall   be  brought. 

Scarce  the  juft   man's  case  is  sure, 
Scarce  the  heavens  themselves  are  pure 
Ah  !   how  then   mail  I   endure  ? 

Dreadful   Potentate  and   high, 

Who  doft   freely  juftify, 

Fount  of  Grace,  my  need  supply ! 

Jefus,  mind  the  kind  intent 
Of  Thy  weary  banifhment, 
And  my  ruin  then  prevent ! 

Let  Thy  paflion  and  Thy  pain, 
All  Thou  sufferedft  me  to  gain, 
Be  not  barren  and   in   vain  ! 

Righteous   Arbiter  of  fate  ! 

Life  and   death   upon  Thee  wait, 

Pardon,   ere   it  be  too  late  ! 


DIES    IRi*E. 


35 


Spare  me,  vileft  of  the  race, 
Guilty,  infamous  and  base, 
Bluming  mendicant  of  grace  ! 

Though  of  finners  I  be  chief, 

Hear  me,  Thou  who  heard'ft  the  Thief, 

Driedft  the  fount  of  Mary's  grief! 

All  my  prayers  are  guilty  breath, 
And  the  beft  nought  meriteth  : 
But  in  mercy  save  from  death  ! 

When,  disposed  on  either  hand, 
All  mankind  before  Thee  ftand, 
Set  me  with  Thy  chosen  band  ! 

When,  O,  terrible  to  tell ! 

Yawns  inevitable    Hell, 

With  the  blefTed  bid  me  dwell ! 

When  I  reach  the  awful  goal, 
And  Death's  billows  o'er  me  roll, 
Care  for  my  undying  soul ! 


36 


DIES     IR^E. 


Day  of  weeping  and   surprise, 
Opening  tombs   and  opening  eyes, 
Rocking  earth  and  burning  fkies  ! 

Day  of  universal  dread, 

When  the  quick  and  quickened  dead 

Shall   have  solemn   sentence  said  ! 

Then,   O,  then,  when   in  despair, 
Man   fhall  speak  or  fhriek  the   prayer, 
u  Spare   me  !  "   God  of  Mercy,  spare  ! 


IX. 

AY   foretold,  that  day  of  ire, 
Burden  erft  of  David's  lyre, 
When    the  world  fhall  fink  in 
fire! 


O,  what  horror  and  amaze, 
When  at  once  on  mortal  gaze 
All  the  Judge's  pomp  mall  blaze! 

When  the   Trumpet's   myftic  blaft, 
To  the  world's  four  corners  caft, 
Disentombs  the  buried    Paft  ; 

And  from  all  the  heaving  sod, 
From   each   foot  of  trampled   clod, 
Starts  a   multitude  to  God  -, 

And  that  Volume  is   unrolled 
Wherein   are  minutely   told 
All  men's  doings  from  of  old  ; 


3$  DIES     IR^E. 

While,   from  what  is  there  contained, 
Shall  be  judged   a  world   arraigned, 
And   eternal   fates  ordained  : 

What  defence  can  I   then   make, 

To  what  Patron   me  betake, 

When  the   righteous   fear  and  quake  ? 

King,  who  doft  all  power  poiTess, 
Free  Thy  grace  and  limitless, 
Save  me,  Fount  of  BleiTedness  ! 

Jefus,  Mafter,  Thou  doft   know 
I   Thy   million  caused  below, 
All  Thy  weariness  and  woe  ! 

Let  Thy  blood,   that  drenched   the   hilt 
Of  that  sword   unfheathed   for  guilt, 
Be  not   vainly  fhed  and  spilt  ! 

O   my   Judge,   forgive,   forget  ! 
Cancel   my   tremendous  debt, 
Ere  the   sun  of  grace   fhall   set  ! 


DIES    IRJ£.  {-) 

Filled   with   fhame  I   hang   my  head, 
Blufhes  deep  my  face  o'erspread  : 
Stay  Thy  lightnings  fierce  and  red  ! 

Thou  canft  darken1  ftains  efface  ; 
Haft  made  monuments  of  grace 
Of  the  vileft  of  the  race. 

My  poor  prayers  please  not  repel  ! 
Grace  and  goodness  with  Thee  dwell  : 
Snatch   me  from  the  flames  of  Hell ! 

When  Thou  (halt  discriminate, 
Sheep  from  goats  fhalt  separate, 
Let  me  on  Thy  right  hand  wait  ! 

When  Thy  sentence,  smiting  dumb, 
Down  to   Hell  fhall    banifh  some, 
With  the  bleffed  bid   me  come ! 

To  Thy  care,  O   Kind  as  Juft  ! 
Heart  all  penitential  duft, 
I  my  end  commit  and  truft  ! 


40 


DIES    IRJE. 


Floods  of  tears  that  day  fhall   pour  ; 
Man  fhall  wake  to  fleep  no  more  ; 
Guilty,  horribly  afraid  : 
Spare  him,  Lord,  whom  Thou  haft  made  ! 


g?  O  !    it  comes,  with  ftealthy  feet, 
Day,   the    ages   fhall   complete, 
When  the  world  fhall  melt  with 
heat! 

O,  what  trembling  fhall  there  be, 
When  all  eyes  the  Judge  fhall  see, 
Come  to  fift  iniquity  ! 

Trump  fhall  syllable  command, 
And  the  dead  of  sea  and  land 
All  before  the  Throne  fhall  ftand. 

Death  fhall  fhudder,  Nature  too, 
When  the  creature  lives  anew, 
Called  to  render  answer  true. 

Volume,  that  omitteth  nought 
Man  e'er  said  or  did  or  thought, 
Shall  for  sentence  then  be  brought. 
6 


42  DIES     IR^F. 

When   {hall   fit  the  Judge  severe, 
All  that's  dark  fhall  be   made  clear, 
Nothing  unavenged  appear. 

What,  alas !  mall   I   then  say, 

To  what  Interceflbr  pray, 

When  the  juft  fhrink  with  dismay? 

Awful  King,  fince  all  is  free, 
Without  merit,   without  fee, 
Fount  of  Mercy,  save  Thou  me  ! 

Mind,  O  Jesus,   Friend   fincere, 
How  I  caused  Thy  advent  here., 
Nor  me  lose  who  coft  so  dear  ! 

Straying,  I   by  Thee  was  sought, 
On  the  cross  with  blood  was  bought 
Let  it  not  be  all   for  nought  ! 

Righteous  Judge  !  Avenging   Lord  ! 
Full  rcmiflion   me  afford, 
Kre   that   final   day's   award  ! 


DIES    IRJE.  43 

Groan  I,  like  a  culprit  base, 
Conscious  guilt  inflames  my  face  : 
Spare  the  suppliant,  God  of  Grace ! 

Thou,  who  erft  didft  Mary  clear, 
And  the  dying  Thief  didft  hear, 
Hope  haft  given  me  to  cheer. 

Though  my  prayers  create  no  claim, 
Be  propitious,  Lord,  the  same, 
Left  I  burn  in  endless  flame! 

Place  among  Thy  fheep  provide, 
From  the  goats  me  sunder  wide, 
Standing  safe  at  Thy  right  fide  ! 

While  "  Depart !  "  to  foes  addrefled 

Banimeth  to  woes  unguefled, 

Call  me  near  Thee  with  the  blefled! 

Contrite  pangs  my  bosom  tear, 
Heart  as  afhes  :   hear  my  prayer, 
Let  my  end  be  not  despair ! 


44 


DIES     lR^E. 


On  that  day  of  grief  and  dread, 
When   man,  rifing  from  the  dead, 
Shall  eternal  juftice  face, 
Spare  the  finner,  God  of  Grace  ! 


XI. 

AY  of  wrath,  that  day  of  dole, 
When  a  fire  fhall  wrap  the  whole, 
And  the  earth  be  burnt  to  coal  ! 


O,  what  horror,  smiting  dumb 
When  the  Judge  of  all  fhall  come, 
Sinful  deeds  to  search  and   sum  ! 

Trump's  reverberating  roar 
Through  the  sepulchres  fhall  pour, 
Citing  all  the  Throne  before. 

Death  and  Nature  ftand  aghaft, 
While  the  dead  in  numbers  vaft 
Rise  to   answer  for  the   part. 

Volume,  writ  by  God's  own   pen, 

Chronicling  the  deeds  of  men, 

Shall  be  brought,  and   dooms  be  then. 


4b  DIES    IRJE. 

When  the  Judge  (hall   sit,  behold  ! 
What  is  secret   He'll  unfold, 
No  juft   punifhment  withhold. 

Ah  !  what  plea  fhall  I   prepare, 
To  what  Patron  make  my  prayer, 
When  the  juft  well-nigh  despair  ? 

King,  majeftic  beyond  thought, 
Whose  free  grace  cannot  be  bought, 
Save  me,  whose  desert  is  nought ! 

O,  remember,  Jefus,  I 

Was  the  cause  and  reason  why 

Thou  didft  come  on  earth  to  die  ! 

Me  Thou  sought'ft  with   weary   feet, 
And   my  ransom  didft  complete  : 
Let  such   pity  nought  defeat ! 

Judge,  inflexible  and  ftricl:, 
Pardon,  ere  that  day  convict 
And  th'   unchanging  doom   inflict  ! 


DIES    IRJE. 


47 


Like  a  criminal  I  sigh, 
Blufhing,  penitently  cry  : 
Pass,  Lord,  my  offences  by  ! 

Thou,  who  Mary  erft  did'ft  bless, 
Heard'ft  the  Thief  in  his  diftress, 
Hope  haft  given  me  no  less. 

Worthless  are  my  prayers  and  vain, 
But  in  love  do  not  disdain, 
Left  I  reap  eternal  pain  ! 

On  Thy  right  hand  grant  me  place 
'Mid  the  fheep,  a  chosen  race, — 
Far  from  goats  devoid  of  grace ! 

When  the  thunder  of  Thine  ire 
Headlong  hurls  to  quenchless  fire, 
Let  Thy  welcome  me  inspire  ! 

I  entreat  Thee,  bending  low, 
Heart  as  afhes,  full  of  woe, 
Succor  in   my  end  beftow  ! 


48 


DIES     IRJE. 


When  upon  that  day  of  tears 
Man  from  dull  again  appears, 
Fate  depending  on  Thy  nod  : 
Spare  the   finner  then,   O   God  ! 


XII. 


DAY  of  wrath  !    O   day  of  fate! 
Day  foreordained  and  ultimate. 
When    all    things    here    fhall    termi- 
nate ! 


What  numbers  horribly  afraid, 

When  comes  the  Judge,  in  fear  arrayed, 

To  try  the  creatures   He  hath   made  ! 

The  blare  of  Trumpet,  pealing  clear, 

Shall  through  the  sepulchres  career, 

And  wake  the  dead,  and  bring  them  near. 

Aftonimed   Nature  then  mall  quail, 
What  time  the  yawning  graves   unveil, 
And   man  comes   forth,  amazed  and  pale, 


To  answer  :     The  o'erwritten  scroll 
Shall  charge  and   certify  the  whole, 
Whence  mall  be  judged  each    human   soul. 

7 


50  DIES     IRJ¥. 

The  Judge  enthroned   fhall   bring  to   light 
Whate'er  is   hid,   in  open   fight 
Avenge  and   vindicate  the  right. 

Ah  !   with  what  plea  fhall   I   then  come, 
When,  terror-locked,  each  sense  is  numb, 
And  even  righteous  lips  are  dumb  ? 

O   King  immortal  and   supreme, 

Whose  fear  is  great,  whose  grace  extreme, 

Make   me  to  drink  of  Mercy's   ftream  ! 

Remember,  Jefus,  Thou  didft  make 
Thyself  incarnate  for  my  sake, 
Left   Hell  insatiate  claim  and  take  ! 

Thou  soughteft  me  when  far  aftray, 
Didft  on  the  cross  my  ransom  pay  : 
Let  not  such  love  be  thrown  away  ! 

Juft  Judge,  of  purity  intense, 
Remit   my  infinite  offence, 
Before  that  day  of  recompense  ! 


DIES    IRJE.  51 

Like  one  convinced  of  heinous  deed, 
I  groan,  I  weep,  I  blufh,  I  plead  : 
Lord,  spare  me  in  that  hour  of  need  ! 

Thou,  who  wert  moved  by  Mary's  tears, 
Absolved  the  Robber  from  his  fears, 
Haft  given  me  hope  in  former  years. 

My  prayers  are  worthless  well  I   know  \ 
But,  good,  do  Thou  Thy  goodness  fhow, 
And  save  me  from  impending  woe  ! 

Number  and  place  me  'mong  Thy  own, 
Beneath  the  fhelter  of  Thy  Throne, 
Until  Thy  wrath  be  overblown! 

When  that  the  almighty  word  mall  leap 
From  out  Thy  Throne,  Thy  foes  to  sweep, 
My  soul  in  perfect  safety  keep  ! 

In  proftrate  worfhip,  I  implore^ 
With  heart  all  penitent  and  sore  : 
Then  care  for  me  when  life  is  o'er  ! 


52 


DIES     IRv<E. 


Ah  !  on  that  day  of  grief  and   dread, 

And   resurrection  of  the  dead, 

Of  trial  and  of  juft  award, 

In   wrath   remember  mercy,   Lord  ! 


XIII. 

HAT  day,  that  awful  day,  the  laft, 
Result  and  sum  of  all  the   Paft, 
Great  neceffary  day  of  doom, 
When  wrecking    fires  mail    all  con- 
sume ! 


What  dreadful  fhrieks  the  air  (hall  rend, 
When  all  mall  see  the  Judge  descend, 
And  hear  th'   Archangel's  echoing  fhout 
From  heavenly  spaces  ringing  out  ! 

The  Trump  of  God   with  quickening  breath 
Shall  pierce  the  filent  realms  of  Death, 
And  sound  the  summons  in  each  ear  : 
"  Arise  !   thy  Maker  calls  !   Appear  !  " 

From  eaft  to  weft,  from   south   to  north, 
The  earth  mail  travail  and  bring  forth  -> 


54  DIES     IRj*E. 

As  desert's  sands  and  ocean's  waves 
Shall   be  the  sum  of  empty  graves. 

Th'  unchanging  Record  of  the  Part 
Shall  then  be  read  from  firft  to  laft  ; 
And  out  of  things  therein  contained, 
Shall  all  be  judged  and   fates  ordained. 

No  lying  tongue,  that  truth  diftorts, 
Shall  witness  in  that  Court  of  Courts  ; 
Each  secret  thing  (hall   be  revealed, 
And  every  righteous  sentence  sealed. 

Ah!  who  can   (land   when   He  appears? 
Confront  the  guilt  of  finful  years  ? 
What  hope   for  me,  a  wretch   depraved, 
When  scarce  the  righteous   man  is  saved  ? 

Dread  Monarch  of  the   Earth  and    Heaven! 
For  that  salvation's  great   'tis  given  ; 
And   fince   the  boon   is  wholly   free, 
O   Fount  of  Pity,  save   Thou   me  ! 


DIES    JRJ£.  55 

Remember,  Jefus,  how   my  case 
Once  moved  Thy  pity  and  Thy  grace, 
And  brought  Thee  down  on  earth   to  flay  : 
O,  lose  me  not,  then,  on  that  day ! 

I   seek  Thee,  who  didft  seek  me  firft, 
Weary  and  hungry  and  athirft  ; 
Didft  pay  my  ransom  on  the  tree  : 
Let  not  such  travail  fruftrate  be  ! 

Juft  Judge  of  vengeance  in  the  end, 
Now  in  the  accepted  time  befriend  ! 
My  fins,  O,  gracioufly  remit, 
Ere  Thou  judicially  {halt  fit! 

Low  at  Thy   feet   I   groaning  lie  ; 
With   blufhing  cheek,   and   weeping  eye, 
And   ftammering  lips,   I   urge  the  prayer : 
O  spare  me,  God  of  Mercy,  spare  ! 

When  Mary  Thy  forgiveness  sought, 
Wept,  but  articulated  nought, 


56  DIES     IKJE. 

Thou   didft:  forgive  ;   didft   hear   the   brief 
Petition  of  the  dying  Thief. 

On  grace  thus  great  my  hope  is  built 
That  Thou  wilt  cancel,   too,   my  guilt  ; 
That,  though   my  prayers  are  worthless  breath, 
Thou  wilt  deliver  me   from   death. 

When   Thy  dividing  rod  of  might 
Appointeth   ftations  oppofite, 
Among  Thy  fheep  grant  me  to  ftand, 
Far  from  the  goats,  at  Thy  right  hand  ! 

And  when  despair  (hall  seize  each   heart 
That  hears  the  dreadful  sound,  "Depart!" 
Be  mine,  the  heavenly  lot  of  some, 
To  hear  that  word  of  welcome,  M  Come  !  " 

I   come  to  Thee  with  trembling  truft, 
And   lay   my   forehead   in   the  duft  ; 
In   my   laft   hour  do  Thou  befriend, 
And  glorify  Thee  in   my  end ! 


APPENDIX.— SEQUENCE. 


^JlftyPS  STATEMENT  of  the  order  observed 
in  the  celebration  of  Mass  will  beft  ex- 
plain the  nature  and  import  of  this  term, 
in  its  application  by  the  Romifh  Church 
to  a  large  body  of  hymns, — Daniel,  in  the  5th  vol- 
ume of  his  learned  and  laborious  work,  u  Thesaurus 
Hymnologicus,"  citing  no  less  than  eight  hundred, 
the  laft  one  given  being  a  new  Sequence,  composed 
in  honor  of  the  Virgin  in  1855,  "  Sequentia  de  Beata 
A4aria  Virgine  fine  Labe  Concepta,  Virgo  Virginum 
Praeclara." 

The  dispofition  of  parts  in  the  Mass  is  as  follows, 
viz.  :  1.  The  Introit,  which  is  the  part  sung  or 
chanted  when  the  prieft  enters  within  the  rails  of  the 
altar.  2.  The  Collect,  or  Prayer.  3.  Reading 
of  the  Epistle,  being,  in  the  Mass  for  the  Dead, 
1  Cor.  xv.  51-57,  or  Rev.  xiv.  13.  4.  The  Grad- 
ual, so  called  from  its  having  been  sung  or  chanted 
8 


58  SEQUENCE. 

formerly  from  the  (reps  (gradus)  of  the  altar,  clofing 
with  the  Alleluia.  5.  The  Tract,  which  is 
omitted  when  the  Alleluia  is  sung  ;  otherwise  it  is 
sung  in  the  interval  to  prepare  for  the  following. 
The  primary  meaning  of  the  word  (from  traho,  to 
protracl:  or  draw  out)  is  adapted  to  suggeft  either  the 
use  here  indicated,  i.  e.  to  fill  up  time,  or  else  to  ex- 
press the  flow,  mournful  movement  which  character- 
izes the  chant.  6.  The  Sequence,  being,  in  the 
Mass  for  the  Dead,  the  Dies  Ir.?e.  7.  Reading 
of  the  Gospel,  being,  in  the  Mass  for  the  Dead, 
John  v.  25-29.  8.  The  Offertory,  which  is  a 
fhort  sentence  that  varies.  9.  The  Secret,  a  brief 
prayer  recited  by  the  prieft  in  a  very  low  tone  of 
voice.  10.  Communion,  or  the  application  of  the 
Mass.      11.   Post-Communion. 

The  Sequence,  it  will  be  seen,  occupies  a  pofition 
exactly  midway,  being  juft  after  the  Gradual  and 
Tract,  and  immediately  before  the  Gospel.  The 
Reading  of  the  Gospel  happening  to  be  introduced  by 
the  words,  "  Sequentia  Sancti  Evangelii  secundum 
,"  (The  Continuation  of  the  Holy  Gospel  ac- 
cording to ,)  some  have  supposed   that  the  term 

Sequentia  or  Sequence  was  derived  from  this  source. 
Michael    Pnetorius  was   of   this   opinion.       But    the 


SEQUENCE.  59 

moft  approved  authorities  give  the  following  explana- 
tion of  its  origin. 

From  an  early  period,  it  was  the  cuftom  of  the 
Latin  Church  to  fing  the  Gradual  with  the  Alleluia 
between  the  Epiftle  and  the  Gospel  ;  the  Gradual 
being  completed,  the  Alleluia  followed  ;  and  in  order 
to  give  to  the  officiating  prieft  or  deacon  sufficient 
time  to  prepare  and  ascend  the  ambon  or  pulpit,  the 
choir  repeated  and  continued  the  laft  syllable  A 
through  a  series  of  notes.  This  neuma,  as  it  was 
called,  or  mufical  prolongation  of  a  letter,  was  named 
SequentiA,  because  it  was  sequent  to  and  governed 
by  the  melody  and  rhythm  of  the  Alleluia.  At  a 
later  period,  this  paflage  of  notes  sung  without  text, 
conftituting  the  original  form  of  the  Sequence,  came 
to  have  words  set  thereto,  thereby  preparing  the 
way  for  other  changes  ;  and  forasmuch  as  the  firft 
e flays  of  this  kind  were  unmetrical  in  their  ftructure, 
the  term  Prosa  or  Prose  was  applied  by  way  of  dis- 
tinction to  this  species  of  compofltion  ;  of  which 
Notker,  surnamed  the  Stammerer,  (Balbulus,)  who 
died  in  912,  canonized  in  15 14,  is  confidered  to  have 
been  the  originator.  Gradually,  rhyme,  so  much 
and  so  fondly  cultivated  in  the  Middle  Ages,  found 
its  way  into  these  also  ;  and  from  the  twelfth  century 


60  SEQUENCE. 

onward,  Sequences  became  proper  metrical  songs, 
differing  from  other  hymns  only  in  this,  that  the 
ftrophes,  inftead  of  four,  were  made  to  consist  of 
three  or  fix  lines,  according  as  they  were  double 
or  fingle.  To  this  rule,  however,  there  were  some 
exceptions.  The  name  of  Prose,  although  not 
ftrictly  proper  in  its  application  to  metrical  composi- 
tions, continued  to  be  used,  nevertheless,  as  a  general 
title  for  all  Sequences  ;  and  so  we  find  the  Dies  Irae 
bearing  the  appellation  in  the  Mass-books  of  "  Prosa 
Ecclefiaftica  de  Mortuis." 

Defigned  in  the  firft  inftance,  as  alleged  by  Notker, 
merely  to  aflift  the  memory  in  retaining  the  long- 
drawn,  caudal  melodies  of  the  Alleluia,  the  defirable- 
ness  of  having  other  songs  for  the  Mass  than  the 
Gloria  in  Excelfis,  Kyrie,  Credo,  &c,  songs  eafier 
in  ftrucliure,  which  could  be  joined  in,  not  only  by 
the  choir,  but  also  by  the  congregation, — perhaps, 
too,  the  wiih  to  introduce  greater  variety  into  the 
service,  and  bring  the  finging  into  closer  relation 
with  the  objects  of  particular  Church  feftivals,  which 
could  be  done  more  readily  by  these  Sequences, — 
caused  them  to  be  multiplied  greatly. 

But  the  Roman  ritual  finally  limited  them  to  four, 
viz.  :    Fie timcv  pascbali  laudis,  S.  for  taller   Sunday  \ 


SEQUENCE.  6l 

Veni  Sancte  Spiritus^  S.  for  Whitsunday  and  St. 
Peter's  Day  \  Lauda  Sion  Salvatorem,  S.  for  Solem- 
nity of  Corpus  Chrifti ;  and  Dies  Irce,  S.  Mass  for 
the  Dead  and  All-Souls'  Day  ;  nevertheless,  other 
Mass-books  of  diocefes  and  monaftic  orders  con- 
tain more  Sequences.  The  Sequence  firft  named 
has  a  different  metre  from  the  other  three,  being  one 
of  those  rare  cafes  in  which  the  characteriftic  triplet 
form  of  the  ftrophe  is  departed  from.  The  second 
named,  Veni  San£te  Spiritus,  which  Trench  speaks 
of  as  "  the  lovelieft,  though  not  the  grandeft,  of 
all  the  hymns  in  the  whole  circle  of  Latin  sacred 
poetry,"  contains  ten  ftrophes  of  three  lines  each. 
Its  author  was  Robert  the  Second,  son  of  Hugh 
Capet,  who  ascended  the  throne  of  France  in  the 
year  997,  and  died  in  103 1.  Like  Henry  the  Sixth 
of  England,  of  a  meek  and  gentle  dispofition,  a  lov- 
er of  peace,  he  was  ill  suited  to  contend  with  the 
turbulent  and  reftless  spirits  who  surrounded  him, 
whose  delight  was  in  war.  The  next  Sequence  has 
twelve  double  ftrophes  of  fix  lines  each.  It  is  com- 
monly attributed  to  the  so-called  Angelical  Doctor, 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas.  The  laft,  which  is  the  Dies 
Ir^e,  grand  and  unapproachable  in  its  excellence, 
comprises  seventeen  ftrophes  of  three  lines  each,  and 
one  of  four  lines. 


ORIGIN    OF   LATIN    RHYME. 


JHILE  it  is  true  that  the  Latin  hymns 
written  during  the  firft  centuries  of  the 
Chriftian  era  are,  speaking  generally, 
characterized  by  the  absence  of  rhyme, 
and  that  the  prevalence  of  rhyme  belongs  peculiarly 
and  almoft  exclufively  to  the  period  intervening 
between  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  the  Great  and 
that  of  Leo  X.,  it  would  be  a  great  error  to  suppose 
that  rhyme  was  then  firft  introduced,  or  that  it  was 
borrowed,  as  some  have  surmised,  from  the  Romance 
or  Gothic  languages.  If  we  look  for  its  origin,  we 
mall  find  preludings  and  anticipations  of  it  in  every 
one  of  the  Latin  poets,  not  excepting  the  oldeft. 
Examples  of  both  middle  and  final  rhyme  occur  in 
all.     In  the  Introduction  to  Trench's  "  Sacred  Latin 


ORIGIN    OF    LATIN    RHYME.  63 

Poetry,"  where  this  whole  subject  is  ably  discufTed, 
we  have  a  collation  of  many  of  these.  Witness  the 
following.  An  ancient  author,  quoted  by  Cicero, 
(Tusc.  1.  1.  c.  28,)  pombly  Ennius,  has  this  : — 

Caelum  nitescere,  arbores  frondescere, 
Vites  laetificae  pampinis  pubescere, 
Rami  baccarum  ubertate  incurvescere. 

Of  middle  rhyme,  we  have  in  Ennius  :  — 

Non  cauponantes  bellum,  sed  belligerantes  ; 

In  Virgil :  — 

Limus  ut  hie  durescit,  et  hsec  ut  cera  liquescit ; 

In  Ovid  :  — 

Quern  mare  carpentem,  substrictaque  crura  gerentem  ; 

Where  also  is  found  this  example  of  leonine  pen- 
tameter :  — 

Quaerebant  rlavos  per  nemus  omne  favos. 

Of  final  rhyme,  we  have,  in  Virgil  :  — 

Nee  non  Tarquinium  ejectum  Porsenna  jubebat 
Accipere,  ingentique  urbem  obsidione  premebat  ; 

Also  : 

Omnis  campis  diffugit  arator, 
Omnis  et  agricola,  et  tuta  latet  arce  viator  ; 


64  ORIGIN    OF     LATIN     RHYME. 

In  Horace  :  — 

Non  satis  est  pulcra  esse  pocmata  ;  dulcia  sunto, 
Et  quueumque  volent,  animum  auditoris  agunto  ; 

Also  :  — 

Multa  recedentes  adimunt.     Ne  forte  seniles 
Mandentur  juveni  partes,  pueroque  viriles. 

Lucan  abounds  in  examples.  Even  the  Latin  prose- 
writers,  it  would  seem,  did  not  disdain  now  and  then 
to  play  at  rhyme,  bv  putting  rhyming  words  in  jux- 
tapofition.  Cicero  has  florem  et  colorem  ;  Pliny,  ve- 
ra?}: ct  meram  ;  Plautus,  melle  et  felle  ;  and  so  others. 
Rhyme  being  thus  shown  to  have  been  a  thing 
known  to  the  language  from  the  earlieft  times,  it 
may  be  thought  surprising,  that  what  at  a  later 
period  was  so  highly  prized,  and  so  fondly  and  so 
laboriously  cultivated,  should  have  been,  during  so 
many  centuries,  to  such  an  extent,  neglecled  ;  having 
been  apparently  fhunned  rather  than  sought  for,  par- 
ticularly by  those  great  matters  of  poetry  who  illus- 
trated the  Auguftan  age.  The  fait  is,  that  the 
ancient  claffic  metres,  though  found  occafionally,  as 
we   have   seen,   toying   with   rhyme,   never  seriously 


ORIGIN    OF    LATIN    RHYME. 


65 


affedted  it ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  fhackles  imposed 
by  these  had  been  wholly  fhaken  off,  and  a  fimpler 
and  more  natural  verification,  based  upon  accent 
inftead  of  quantity,  had  succeeded  in  eftablifhing  its 
juft  claims  over  the  Greek  intruder,  that  the  regime 
of  rhyme  fairly  commenced. 


(kretjorian  pliant. 


From  the  "  G-raduale  Romanum.' 


di  -  es  il  -  la  Sol  -  vet  SEe-clum 
Quantus  tre-mor  est  fa  -  tu  -  rus,  Quan-do  Ju  -  dex 
Quod  sum  rni  -  ser      tunc  die  -  tu  -  rus,  Quern  pa  -  tro-num 

ma  ■  jes  -  ta  -  tis,  Qui  sal  -  van-dos 
Qui  Ma  -  ri  -  am  ab  -  sol  -  vis  -  ti.  Et  la  -  tro-nem 
Pras-ces    me  -  ae       non   sunt    dig  -  nee,    Sed    tu     bo  -  nus 


1. 

2. 

7. 

8.  Rex  tre  -  men-dae 
13. 
14. 


gens  so-num  Per  se-pul-chra  re  -  i 
is  a  -  tu  -  ra,  Cum  re  -  sur-get  ere  -  a  - 
Je  -  su  pi  -  e.  Quod  sum  cau-sa  tu  -  ae  vi  - 
dis  -  ti  las-sus,  Re  -  de  -  mis- ti  cru-cem  pas 
I"  -cum  prae-sta,  Et  ab  h  -dis  me  se  -  que: 
ru.i  -  le  -  die  -  tis,    Flammis  a  -  cri  -  bus  ad  -  die- 


Co- 

Ju- 

Xe 

Tan 

Sta- 
Vo- 


me  per- 
-tus  la- 


das 
bor 


tu  -  ens 
ca   me  c 


f^4^*^Hi^^^ 


an  -  te  thronum.  5.  Li  -  ber  scriptus  pro-fe  -  re  -  tur,  In  quo  totum 
re-spon-su  -  ra.  6.  Ju  -  dex  er  -  go  cum  se-  de  -  bit,  Quidquid  latet 
il  -  la  di  -  e  !  11.  Jus  -  te  Ju  -dex  ul  -  ti  -  o  -  nis,  Donum  fac  re  - 
not  sit  cassus  !    12.  In     ge  -  mis -co  tanquam  re  -  us,  Cul-pa  ru-bet 

par-te  dex-tra!  17.  0  -  ro  sup-plex  et  ac  -  cli  -  nis,  Cor  contritum 
be  -  ne  -  dic-tis  ! 


I  '  ■       I 

con-ti    -    ne-tur,  Un-de  mundus  ju-  di  - 
ap  -  pa  -    re  -  bit,  Nil  in  -  ul  -  turn  re  -  ma- 
-    mis -si    -    o  -  nis  An-te    di  -  em    ra-ti    - 
vul-tus     me-us :  Suppli-can-ti     par-ce, 
qua-  si       ci  -  nis  :  Ge-  re   cu-ram  me  -  i 


ce-tur. 
ne-  bit. 

o  -  nis.  18.  La-chry-mo-sa 
De  -  us  ! 


ftjt&^m^m 


gpj  ppr^rp'^B^E^h-F 


m 


di  -  es      il  -    la    Qua   re  -  sur-get     ex    fa  -  vil  -  la,    Ju  -  di  -  can-dus 


^#m=^£mpi 


a* 


33EE§; 


^B= 


wmm 


^= 


SE 


ho  -    mo       re   -    us :    Hu  -   ic        er  -    go      par  -  ce,      De  -  us  ! 


